Engage-iversary!

This past Sunday, December 2^nd, was our “engage-iversary .” 

 I did, in fact, make up that term up all by myself J

In other words, one year ago this guy

 made me the happiest girl in the whole world

when he  asked me to be his wife.

 

  Now he is my husband,

I am his wife,

and we are the Whitesell's!

We celebrated by eating at my favorite resturant, Monument Cafe.  We ate a bit too much, and topped it off with some yummy chocolate pie.

 

 

 

We finished our night by taking a pit stop on the beautiful Georgetown square to see the beautiful Christmas lights.

 

 

It has been an incredible year, full of adventures and crazy memories.  I can’t wait for another year with this sweet darling of mine. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lessons learned

So much has happened in our lives since my last post, hence my lack of blogging.  In just 3 short months of marriage, Drew and I have had more changes than most people do in years.  Since my last post, we have moved, started new jobs, merged bank accounts, started paying my oh so lovely student loans, celebrated my 23^rd birthday, changed my name on everything imaginable, written a million thank you notes, celebrated our first Thanksgiving as Mr. & Mrs., and the list goes on-and-on!

Although this time in our lives has been crazy, hectic, and exhausting – it has taught me so much about life, myself, and marriage.  Here are a few things the past 3 months have taught me:

Life happens fast.   It seems like such a short time ago that we were in college, going dancing all the time and somehow waking up and making it to class on time at 8 a.m.  Sleep was almost non-existent and our only real priority was having fun - I seriously do not know how I managed to graduate, much less make decent grades.  I treasure that time in my life, because I made the most out of every moment.  In all the hustle and bustle over the past few months, I have often failed to seize the moment.  I am learning that life is fast, so sometimes things have to be pushed to the side, so that we can live in the moment.

Perspective is everything.  Joy is a choice you make.  Thankfulness is a choice.  Being married has taught me so much about perspective.  Guys and gals – we don’t think alike.  Our perspectives are different.  I have learned that instead of expecting, it is better to ask nicely.  I have learned that waking up and choosing to have a good day is the first step to having a good day.  I have learned to choose to the see gifts in my husband, and to focus on those things and recognize those things.  I have learned that in the big perspective, my “BIG” problems are so miniscule. 

Life is simple, although we tend to make life so complex.  Some of the sweetest times over the last few months have been the simplest.  Sitting around the table with our families, going on a run together, laying on the couch and watching a movie, cooking dinner, laughing with my mom… The simplest of things are sometimes the most filling. 

Family is so precious.  Drew and I have been tremendously blessed to have the families that we have.  This past year, we had to make some very hard decisions, and each decision has been backed with love, support, and encouragement.

I need to be challenged.  When I feel challenged, I am an insanely productive machine; however, when I feel no challenge or pressure, I lack enthusiasm.

Having faith is critical.  Without the realization that life is so much bigger than you and me, life is pointless.  What motivates me and inspires me come from God, and when I am distant from him – I live a purposeless life.  The hope that comes from our faith is what has helped Drew and I motivated during this crazy phase of life.

My husband is a gift from God.   It is no secret that when I get super-stressed, that I am not the most pleasant person to be around.  This is something I am working on, but still fail at often.  Drew never fails to love my in spite of my weaknesses, which is such a sweet reminder of the Father’s love for us.  Not only does he embrace me at my worst, he changes my perspective.  He knows when I need him to say “Babe, stop. Calm down.  Take a break.”  He knows how to make me relax. Drew has this amazing peace about him.  Which at sometimes can be so frustrating, because he no sense of urgency.  However, it can be SO REFRESHING.  Although it sometimes aggravates me, it is exactly what I need.  I never realized that being calm could be such an expression of faith. 

I am so thankful for lessons that have been learned the last 3 months, but so relieved to finally be able to rest and relax.  It has been a while since my mind hasn’t been preoccupied, forgot how great it feels to relax.  Here is to blogging more than once in the next 3 months!

Love,

kelsey

Honeymoon-Day 1

We woke up SUPER early in order to arrive to the airport in San Antonio on time our flight
We were both starving and what else is open at 4:30 a.m. but Whataburger, which can only mean one thing: Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit.  This set the tone for our eating habits the rest of the trip: unhealthy. 
Our first flight was from San Antonio to Pheonix, where I found this awesome hat (that Drew would not let me buy) in the airport:

"Arizona Guard Dog"

After a short layover, we were headed to Portland, Oregon.  The trip to Portland was interesting, as our male flight atendent was very "spirited."  He had a theme song for almost everything...

After arriving in Portland, we got our very first rental car and headed into downtown Portland for lunch.  Of course, we had to eat at the Flying Elephant Cafe (for those of you who don't know, I am obsessed with elephants).  By this point, we were both starving and everything looked good. We decided to get a little bit of everything and split it...the end result was way too much food for two people to eat. 

Portland was a very interesting city.  It reminded me of Austin with a huge river flowing through it.  There was even "keep Portland weird" painted on the side of buildings.  Our second stop in Portland was at the famous "Voo Doo Donuts," this place was packed!  Drew probably wanted to kill me when we drove by it and realized that the line went out the building, looped around the building, and down the street and I said with no hesitiation "we are waiting in that line."  So we parked the car and found our place in line (with some really awesome Washington people).

After standing in line for over an hour, we were excited to try out all 6 of our donuts.  We had planned on having these for breakfast during our trip, but actually only ended up taking about one bite of each one :(

 

After we had our pink box in hand, we hopped in the car and headed to Multonomah Falls, which was absolutely beautiful! We hiked all the way to the top, which was a pretty steep climb...

 

From here, we headed to our home for the next 4 days, Skamaina Lodge is Stevenson, Washington.  The drive to the lodge was absolutely breath taking.  We drove along I-84, which runs alongside the Columbia river, which is tucked between the beautiful mountains of Washington and Oregon.  Also on our drive, we found fresh cherries (my favorite) and a really awesome bridge, which led us directly into Stevenson.

 

Once we got to the lodge, we checked into our room and enjoyed the incredible view!

 

After getting all settled in, we headed into Stevenson to have dinner at the 3 Rivers Grill.  The food was absolutley amazing.  Instead of crab cakes they served salamon cakes which were so tasty.  Drew and I both had stuffed pork loin for dinner, yummy!

After a full day of travel, and a two hour time adjustment we were exhausted! But not too exhausted to wake up the next morning for white water rafting...stay tuned!

 

Howdy Y'all

Ten days ago I married my best friend and we began a life-long journey together!  The past ten days have been nothing short of incredible, and filled with amazing and hilarious memories.  Drew and I want to be sure to document this exciting time of our life, so we have decided to start a blog, which will also allow us to share our memories with our family and friends!  And so it begins...hope y'all enjoy!